FamiTracker

Key signature

Key signature

Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 6:25 pm

by PinoBatch

In #critique in the FamiTracker users' Discord server, sc00pj0hn wrote:the good thing about hookpad is that it seems i can hold my notes to a key of the song, while when trying to make a original song without something like that it can be road off

This wouldn't be a bad idea for FamiTracker either.

For each song, the user would specify a key signature (e.g. G major or D minor). The user could also choose to override the key for each frame. Then the tracker would highlight notes differently if the note is out of the key and not in a noise or DPCM channel.

The twelve major keys would have seven notes (0-2-4-5-7-9-11). The twelve minor keys would have eight notes (0-2-3-5-7-8-10-11), the union of the natural minor (Aeolian mode) and the harmonic minor. Examples:

C major: C-, D-, E-, F-, G-, A-, B-

E major: E-, F#, G#, A-, B-, C#, D#

A minor: A-, B-, C-, D-, E-, F-, G-, G#

C minor: C-, D-, D#, F-, G-, G#, A#, B-

Re: Key signature

Posted: Sun May 27, 2018 10:16 pm

by Drillimation

I agree with that, but I wouldn't use it. Generally, I'm no expert in music theory here, but I can break this down for you. For almost every song I cover, I usually try to guess the key the song is written in just by examining the notes in a MIDI file using a MIDI editor. Just recently, I covered the song Vessel of Stars ~ Casket of Star from the PC-98 game Touhou 4: Lotus Land Story, where the first of three keys used is written in A minor. The second key is in F# minor, while the last key is in G minor. Another example of an F# minor song is Shanghai Teahouse ~ Chinese Tea from Touhou 6: The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil.